Tastey Tuesday

 Now I know what you are probably thinking.  That's one ugly cake.  Sometimes though, you can find the most amazing things underneath the surface, if only you can look past the outer appearance. This holds true in all of life's experience.  This sure holds true with this cake.  Pudding cakes were really popular back in the 80's.  I'm not sure what happened but they kind of just faded out of the "foodie" crowd.  It's a shame too because man oh man this is one good slice of chocolate heaven.  


Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake

Ingredients
   1 cup all-purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    2/3 cup white sugar
   5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
   1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup milk
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
    1 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    1 1/2 cups boiling water
Directions
    Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 pan.
    Whisk the flour, baking powder, white sugar, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder, and the salt together in a large bowl. Mix in the milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Stir in nuts if you want and pour the batter into your prepared baking dish.
    Mix brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa powder together; and sprinkle over the batter in your baking dish. Pour the boiling water slowly over the top of the batter and topping.
    Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. The top of the cake will be set and the bottom will be soft. Spoon into individual serving bowls.  To send this one over the edge top it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13 pan.  I'm sure glad I did too because even with just the two of us here it was gone in under 3 days!  
I was a bit nervous when I first made this.  The final step of pouring the water over the top of the mix made it look like a soupy mess and I kept thinking.... I'm not really sure I did this right.  Don't worry though.  It all comes out great after it's time in the oven.  A nice brownie-type layer  on top hides a rich gooey sauce with the consistency of a kind of pudding underneath it.


Now this cake isn't served the ordinary way.  You can't just slice it and serve it up.  You have to scoop it out of the pan and flip it over on its "back" so to speak. (kind of like a cobbler)  It's great like it is, but to really make this one a standout hit, serve it hot with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or a good dollop of whipped cream.